Sterilizing apparatus.



m. n w m n i w r VH .U .e N m Mm WMM w m ME R n A m VC .A m nfu M a l H me 6 A d W D e HIM F\//// Tw .L .MQW www. RPM EAB mi M Amw m .m FHM m w I RL l. mm S n.0 LL 21 E N/// L/. D .l 1, s mdf m M 72 @mv NoA 862,623. PATENT@ AUG. 6, 1907.'

` F. A. BMBMGK,

STERILIZING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION ILED NOV. 9. 1905.

s SHEETS-SHEET s.

UNlTED STATES .ljafl CiFi-Elsie.

tra t FREDERICK A.' EMERICK, OF OSWEGO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GREAT BEAR SPRING COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION CF NEW '.ERSEY.

STERILIZING APPARATUS,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. AW

" To aywhomtt 'may concern:

Be it known that l, Funonurek A. EnEmeK, a citizen of (he United States, and a resident of Oswego, in thevcounty of Oswego and State-ol' New York, (with post-olice address Oswego7 New i York.) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sterilizing Apparatus, oi which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to apparatus lor heating bottles or other containers either empty or filled and is especially uselul lor sterilizing milk bottles or milk bottles and their contents. lt may, however, be used lor other articles which require to be subjected to heat lor drying or for other purposes. i

To this end my invention consists in the combination with. a vertical chimney or tower, the interior oi which is Vheated by any suitable niveaus, of an endless conveyor or carrier, preferably of the` chain type, pentiulous trays hung from said carrier each constructed with two vertical openings or sets of openings extending respectively from opposite enges or sides of the tray entirely'across the line of suspension ol said trays and 'feed and discharge tracks or conveyors arranged as hereinafter described with the feed tracks or con` veyers located at a point near the bottoni oi the heating tower but in line with one ,of the sets oi' vertical openings extending across the line ol' suspension of the trays and on the side of the endless conveyor which is ascending, while the said discharged tracks or conveyers are arranged on thedoivn side in line with the other set of openings and extend entirely across the line o suspension ol the said trays.

My invention consists further in the special combinations of devices' and details of construction as more particularlyV hereinafter. describodand then specified in the claims.

in the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a vertical section through the tower showingr the endless carrier in elevation together with its driving mechanism. Fig. 2 is a section of the tower with the endless carrier in side elevation and showing the feed and discharge ways or conveyors for feeding the pallets and receiving and carrying away the pallets alter heating. Fig. Il is a plan of the'tower. Fig. 4 shows the relative loca! tion of the feed and delivery ways of the tracks to the trays at the point where the said trays pass 'the tracks for the purpose of picking up and dropping the pallets carryinr' the bottles. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the -prot'erred form of skeleton tray which l employ. "Eg: (i is a horizontal sectional View through the apparatus ta'cn above the tracks and showing the carriers in operftive positionwith respect thereto', the objects forming.4 the load being omitted.

l indicates the chains or belts ol an endless carrier from which the trays 2 are suspended by a pivotal sns- Vthe trays at their opposite sides and edges as shown bett( r in Fig. 2, and pivotally connected with the belts or chains l oi the endless carrier. Said belts pass over suitable drive wheels l which are carried by shafts 5. The journal bearings of said shafts are providcd'with pests f5 sustained by the iloorof a building or by other means and by journal hearings carried by hangers 7 supported in any suitable manner. At the bottom of the tower the endless belts or chains pass around other wheels 9 as woll understood inthe art which may be mounted on shafts su. ned by hangers 10 on e lower floor 'Il ol' the building. Said floor ll has suitable openings io permit the passage of the trays and endless belts as indicated more fully in Fig. 2. A. counter shalt l2 driven in any suitable manner and geared to the shafts 5 operates the endless carrier. The up and down sides of the carrier both travel in the tower or vertical heating chamber S, the interior olwhich may be heated by steam pipes l or by other means to secure tho desired d cgree ol' temperature within thesamo necessary for sleriliziug or lor other result.

The top ofthe tower is closed in by the co ver 8 which is provided with an opening or escape controlled bythe damper 14, whereby the temperature may be more readily regulated. The tower 8 has preferably a heat insulating jacket lorlned, preferably, by an exterior casing l5 separated from the chamber 8 by an air space to form an air jacket which prevents radiation' of heat from the heating chamber. Al` the top of the air jacket a number ol dempers lG may be used to Carry away any radiated heat should it be desirable to permit ihe escape of the same in order to prevent communication of the heat from the heating chamber to the room or apartment in which the tower is located.' With this construction or arrangement ol" heating tower and endless carrier, it will be obvious that any bottles or other objects or containers placed upon the traysator near the bottom of the up side or' the carrier will be heated moderately and gradually in their ascent on the up side until they reach the more intense heat at the top of the chamber or chimney, while on their return on the down side they will be gradually cooled. Conveyors, tracks or ways are also provided l'or delivering the articles or palletsor boards carrying the same int-o position where they will be taken up by the upwardly traveling trays and for receivingsaidv articles, pallets or boards from the downwardlyY traveling trays asvthey reach the bottom of .the tower on their downward travel. These tracks, ways or conveyors may be of any suitable construction, but are preferably ol' such character' and so built to permit the articles to be fed and discharged or carried away by gravity.

Assuming that the apparatus is used for the sterilization or drying of bottles assembled upon pallets or c il boards 26, it is preferable to employ tracks or ways having anti-friction rollers 17; said tracks having a slight inclination, preferably, on both the feed and delivery sides. Said tracks or ways for the feed or delivery side are indicated at 18 and for the discharge side at 18. Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that these tracks or ways on both sides oi the tower extend into the path of the traveling trays and entirely across their line of suspension, so as in the case of the feed side, to bring the sustaining board or pallet 26 fully into position where it will be properly picked up by the tray, or in other words, will be fully underv the center of suspension oi' said tray which will, therefore, not be in danger of cauting or tilting and with consequent danger of the tray dropping the board or pallet or spilling the articles supported by' it. In the same manner 0n the delivery side the tracks or ways extend back across practically the whole space or path embraced by the descending tray and entirely across their line of suspension so as to fully receive the descending pallet with its supported bottles or other articles.

ln order to permit the trays to pass the tracks or ways or other conveying device, and to fully receive and properly deposit their load consisting ot the pallets or other objects, I construct said trays with vertical openings which extend from their opposite'sides across the line of suspension as more fully indicated in Figs. 4 and 5. In these iigures, these openings, which permit the tray to pass the leed tracks or ways 18,'are indicated at 20. The opening which extends across the tray in the opposite direction to permit it to pass the delivery tracks 18/ is indicated at 21. It is obvious that the 'shape of their-ray to provide openings for this purpose may be greatly varied. I prefer, however, to make the tray in the forln of a skeleton tray of nictal as shown, proper provision being made at the sides for attachment of the hangers 3 as indicated. The pallets 26 with the bottles assembled thereon are fed by gravity or in any other suitable way toposition for being picked up by the ascending trays as indicated in Fig. 2. A suitable stop brings theIn to rest in position for being picked up. When a pallet is picked up by the ascending tray, it irees the next one which is then i" d into position to be picked up by the next asc :riding tray. Suitable provision is preferably made lo prevent the bottles on the pallet, which is abo it to feed into position for being lifted from engaging with the edge of the board or pallet which has just been lifted. Such provision consists of uprights 22 at the iront and back oi each pallet connected if desired by a cross 'piece or brace 23. These uprights 22 which rise to at least the height oi` he bottle act as stops to prevent the pallet iroin being fed-forward into position for being lifted until it has been cleared by the pallet which has just been picked up. On the descending side each pallet is resea, o23

ceived by the delivery ways or tracksiv18 and iminediately passes away by gravity from position where it will interfere with the load on the descending tray above. I l .i

In the operation ot this apparatus, it will be seen that the labor is confined to simply placing the palletsin line upon the feed tracks 18l and to disposing of the pallets and their load as they are fed away from the de-l livery opening in the side olf-the tower on the tracks 18. It will also be seen that inasmuch as the ascending'and descending trays with their loads will balance one another, the poiver required for feeding the articles to be heated for sterilization or other purpose will be a s minimum. l

What I claim as my invention is:

endless carrier arranged with its up and down sides travcling in said tower, pendulous trays having vertical openings extending respectively from opposite sides or edges' of the tray across the line of suspension, feed 'tracks or conveyors extending into Vthe path of the trays near the betteln of the tower and entirely across the line of suspension of the trays but in line with the vertical open ings extending from Aone edge or side thereof,`and dis charge or delivery tracks or conveyers extending into the path of the trays on the down siderhutiv entirely across the line of suspension of the trays and in line with vertical openings extending from thipposite edge or side of seid troyanas and for the'purpose described.

2. In an apparatus for sterillzing bottles or other containers, the combination of an air jacketed heating tower having an endless carrier mounted to travel in a vertical direc'tlonwithin it, heating pipes on the inner walls of the tower', damper-s nt the top ot the Itower adapted to control the escape of niiin the air jacket, pendulous skeleton trays hungifroui said carrier and having vertical openings cxtendinlrr fr'oin 4opposite edges lof the tray across their line of"`iispension andfeed and delivery tracks both'extending across the line of suspension but with the feed tracks 'in line with the vertical openings extending from vertically through it and from'dts opposite edges across the line of suspension in different vertical planes and conveyor tracks or ways adapted to feed load sustaining devices into and out o f the path of the trays, said con vcyer tracks or ways extending across the line of suspension of the trays and being arranged on the up sideiu i line with one set of vertical openings in said trays and o n the down side in line with .other vertical openings in said trays, as and for thephrpose described.

Signed at Oswego. in ilie'county of Oswego and State of New York, this second day of November, A. D. 1905 FREDERICK A. EMERICK.

Witnesses W. M. Pnxxni', E. J. GREENE.

1. The crnliinatlon ot a heating tower or chimney, arr

j one edge of the trays and the delivery tracks in line with 

